There are two moments in my pre-internship experience that I really felt that I had touched or taught a student. There were rewarding moments and I can’t wait to have more of them.

1. One of my lessons was a pre-writing lesson using the book The Mysteries of Harris Burdock by Chris VanAllserburg. Most students enjoyed it and participated well in the lesson. There was one girl however that really took to the activity. At the end of the lesson she showed me her webs and I encouraged her to take them further. Well for the rest of the day it was hard to get her to do anything else. By the end of school she had written two pages of her story. I told her to type it up and share it with me again the next week. She made a copy for both myself and the cooperating teacher.
It wasn’t the most elaborate story in the world, and it certainly was not free of spelling or grammar mistakes, but she was proud of it and so was I. I loved the idea that I had brought something into the classroom that had inspired her.

2. In order to stretch myself outside of my comfort zone I had decided to take on a math lesson. I taught equivalent fractions and although it was a simple lesson and fit right into the curriculum, the students did not seem to catch on. My cooperating teacher thought that maybe some of them had not been taught fractions enough in the previous year to give them a basis. Whatever the reason they were clearly not ready for the lesson.
I continued on however and made sure I was as available as I could be to all the students who were needing help. There was one girl in particular who was having trouble understanding what fractions were, let alone equivalent fractions. I tried to show her as many strategies as I could, but neither of us were getting anywhere.
It was time to move on so I decided to wrap up the lesson by showing them how equivalent fractions in order can create a pattern. Suddenly the light bulb turned on and this girl started giving me the answers before I had them figured out in my head. She was excited and I was excited.